Wilkes-Barre officials were preparing Wednesday night to evacuate nearly half the city as the Susquehanna River swelled to near-record levels.

Mayor Tom Leighton, speaking to reporters after meeting with local education and business leaders, said an evacuation of the city's flood prone neighborhoods was all but certain, but offered no timetable for its implementation.

City officials will monitor river levels and the creeks that criss-cross the city with regular patrols and through the city's security camera system, Leighton said. Residents will have "plenty of time" to leave, if and when an evacuation is ordered, he said.

"I'm asking all of our city residents, our visitors, our business community to take our evacuation notice very serious," Leighton said.

The American Red Cross, in conjunction with city officials, will establish emergency shelters if an evacuation is ordered, Leighton said. If city hall is included in an evacuation zone, city officials will move their emergency operations to the Coal Street complex.

An evacuation could affect upwards of 20,000 people, Leighton said.

As of 10 p.m., Wednesday, the National Weather Service was projecting the Susquehanna River would crest around midnight Thursday at 38.5 feet - less than 3 feet below the record flooding that devastated the Wyoming Valley in 1972 in the wake of Tropical Storm Agnes.

Flood walls in the Brookside neighborhood were being constructed Wednesday night and a pump station on Weir Street would remain in operation indefinitely, Leighton said.

City institutions were already taking precautions ahead of the projected river crest. Classes were cancelled in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and at Holy Redeemer High School. Administrators from two colleges in the city, Wilkes University and King's College, met with Leighton and city officials Wednesday night and were formulating contingency plans.

Any evacuation order would be mandatory and residents not complying could be subject to arrest, on a case-by-case basis, Leighton said.

"I'd much rather see people drive their cars out of a flood plain than go out on a boat," Leighton said.

Neighborhoods rattled early Wednesday morning by the rapidly rising Solomon Creek could be included in the mandatory evacuation order.

Tom Prywara, forced from his Brook Street home in the wee hours Wednesday morning, sat in a makeshift shelter at GAR High School and listened for updates on his portable police scanner.

"It bites," Prywara said.

Those two words summed up the feeling of about 3,000 South Wilkes-Barre residents forced to evacuate from their homes near the flood-prone creek for the second time in less than two weeks.

Rain from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee pelted the region Tuesday and through the night, causing Solomon Creek to rise about 7 feet in a matter of five hours, Leighton said as he donned a yellow raincoat to survey the water near Barney Street at about 3 a.m.

The city closed four flood gates over Solomon Creek at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, and shortly after, firefighters went door to door informing nearby residents that the city had ordered a mandatory evacuation because of concern the area might flood.

While the city reported no major damage or incidents other than some flooded roadways near the creek, city spokesman Drew McLaughlin said.

Several residents packed belongings in bookbags and made their way out of the neighborhood, presumably to stay with family or make use of the Red Cross shelter set up at the high school. About 25 people and two dogs were in the high school as of 4 a.m.

"It's for their safety they vacate their properties," Leighton said.

A similar scene played out two Sundays ago, when Hurricane Irene dumped heavy rains on Northeastern Pennsylvania as it churned up the East Coast. That storm cost the city more than $1 million in damage and protection and response efforts.

Solomon Creek lapped heavily against the Barney Street bridge through the night, its gurgling audible even over the shrill police sirens that echoed through the neighborhood. Several city officials from the police department, fire department and Leighton's administration milled about the creek.

"Unbelievable," Butch Frati, the city's operations director, said as he scanned the fast-moving water.

Despite the concern, Jason Bevan said he planned to stay in his Regent Street home next to the creek even those his fiancee had already left. Bevan, who missed Irene's wrath because he was in Las Vegas, did not believe the water would reach his first floor.

"It's what you get for living next door to a creek." Bevan said of the chaotic scene. "My fault."

The residents were allowed back to their homes by midday, but the stay will likely be short-lived.

"We felt when the creek went down 3½ to 4 feet it was safe for them to go back to the comforts of their home," Leighton said. "We did not want them to stay in the shelter or stay in a relative's house. They are safe going back at that level, but we also said, 'Be prepared, you may have to be evacuated again.'"

astaub@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2052

msisak@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2061Mayor Tom Leighton urged city residents Wednesday to call 911 only in the event of an emergency. Non-emergency calls, he said, should be directed to the Department of Public Works hotline at 570-208-4240 or the mayor's office at 570-208-4152.

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